Arthropodium from the Greek 'arthron' meaning a joint and 'podion' meaning a little foot, alluding to the jointed pedicels. Milleflorum from the Latin 'mille' meaning a thousand and 'floris' meaning flowers.

Distribution:

Found in South Australia only in the lower South-east . Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Caledonia.

Status:

Native. Rare in South Australia. Common in other states.

Plant description:

Perennial lily with tubers to 3cm long. Leaves, erect to 60cm long and 17mm wide. Flowers numerous, white or purplish, spreading or drooping; perianth-segments 6-7 mm long without appendages; anther as long as the bearded part of the filament and shorter than the whole filament.

Fruit type:

Pale-brown ovoid capsule containing numerous seeds.

Seed type:

Black, sectoroid seed to 2mm long and 2mm wide, with slightly tuberculate surface.

Embryo type:

Linear fully developed.

Seed collecting:

Collect mature capsules, those that are turning a pale straw-colour and contain black seeds. Collect individual capsules or break off the whole spike.

Seed cleaning:

Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. Then rub the capsules gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

Seed viability:

From two collections, the seed viability was high, ranging from 90% to 100%.

Seeds stored:

Location

No. of seeds(weight grams)

Numberof plants

Datecollected

Collection numberCollection location

Datestored

% Viability

Storagetemperature

BGA

370 (0.3447 g)

20-30

31-Jan-2006

DJD273South Eastern

9-Aug-2006

90%

-18°C

BGA MSB

7800 (15.61 g)5800 (11.61 g)

100+

8-Jan-2008

DJD970South Eastern

20-Jul-2009

100%

+5°C, -18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.